Direct Action

Around 150 squatters, anarchists and farmers live in ZAD (Zone À Défendre), an activist community in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France. This is the place where they successfully opposed the building of an airfield and where they are calling for a new ecological revolution—a revolution that they put into practice every day.

The French government branded this self-sufficient group as “eco-terrorists” and used violence in its attempt to evacuate the site in 2012. And the group members continue to face brutal police actions when protesting against the privatisation of reservoirs.

Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell filmed the group from within for two years. With an excellent feel for framing, they capture everyday scenes in minute and unhurried detail in 41 long takes that often start by showing hands: sawing wood, kneading dough, ploughing land, sharpening a chainsaw or making crêpes. In a conversation with journalists, one of the residents succinctly captures their lived impressions of direct action: “We are no longer crushed by eco-anxiety. It is possible to reclaim the power to act.”